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The phrase “secrets and lies” takes on terrible new meaning in Catherine Wyatt-Morley’s devastating book,
I AM THE PRODUCT OF RAPE – A MEMOIR.
Wyatt-Morley’s shocking story traces the repeated patterns of rape and incest that plagued four generations
of her family, including Wyatt-Morley’s birth in a filthy basement to her 12-year-old mother, who was
sexually abused by her step-father.
“…In the process of writing this book, an extremely difficult journey that has taken years, I was taken to
unfamiliar destinations and exposed to unfathomable pain,” Wyatt-Morley relates. “Part of that pain was
learning that I was created through the atrocities of incest by a brutally manipulative monster and, while
only moments old, (I was) denied by a heartless grandmother who never bothered to look at me.”
Wyatt-Morley wrote I AM THE PRODUCT OF RAPE – A MEMOIR , she says, “as my way of dealing with
my personal healing. But through conversations with many diverse women, I quickly began seeing I was
not alone. So many had never told anyone of the abuse that has happened to them; yet they have a need to
heal, to not feel isolated.”
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I Am the Product of Rape – 2
Wyatt-Morley’s daughter, Jalyon Welsh-Cole, also suffered the terrible legacy of her family when she was
abused by her eldest brother. She wrote the epilogue to I AM THE PRODUCT OF RAPE – A MEMOIR, an
essay she called BURNING HOUSE , in response to the continued pattern of abuse that formed her familial
legacy.
“Most of my family members who have learned of this are dealing with it as well as one can,” Welsh-Cole
says. “However, others are still in disbelief and struggle to understand. For over two decades I kept this
heinous secret to myself. I have had time to bury it, cry over it, and finally seek therapy and come to grips
with it.”
Welsh-Cole’s mother’s story “made me feel as if our bloodline was full of secrets and lies that I wanted to
expose,” she continues. “I knew after learning of my grandmother’s story that I wasn’t alone. Today, I
cannot allow this to continue to happen in our family.”
As dark and unrelenting as it is, the story told in I AM THE PRODUCT OF RAPE – A MEMOIR leads to a
conclusion of overcoming tremendous odds, leaving readers riveted, inspired, and empowered.
About the Authors
Catherine Wyatt-Morley is the founder, chief executive officer and heartbeat of Women On Maintaining
Education and Nutrition, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social service organization for the at-risk and HIV-positive
community. In 1994, Wyatt-Morley founded Women On Reasons To Heal (W.O.R.T.H.), the first and what
has become the oldest HIV-positive women’s support group in Middle Tennessee.
Wyatt-Morley has appeared in countless media outlets nationwide, including SELF Magazine, the Today
Show, A&U Magazine, POZ Magazine, CNN, Voices of America, MSNBC, Talk America Radio, FX
Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, the Palm Beach Post, the Indianapolis Indiana Recorder, the Los Angeles
Times, the Canadian Sun, Nashville Scene, and the Tennessean.
Jalyon Welsh-Cole has been director of Women On Maintaining Education and Nutrition, a 501(c) (3)
nonprofit social service organization, since 2010. Welsh-Cole began writing when she was very young,
starting with short stories and poems. As a teen, she was inspired to draw, finding comfort and creativity in
her art. She joined forces with Wyatt-Morley to share her story in I AM THE PRODUCT OF RAPE – A
MEMOIR . Together, they also have created #HealingSecretHurts workshops, which bring the spectrum of
traumatizing sexual assault into the light.